Riot Games Confirms Only One New Champion for 2026 Amid League Next Development

Riot Games has released its mid-season patch reveal for League of Legends as we approach MSI and the end of 2026 Season 1. The update is significant, with Shyvana set to be the rework champion in the next patch. This is on top of First Stand implications and other changes coming to the game, like ARAM Mayhem updates and more.

However, for those of us who love new lane matchups, combos, team comps, and strategic diversity, we are sadly left in the dust. Riot Games confirmed that only one champion release is coming in 2026, with two reworks, one of which is Shyvana.

One New Champion, So It Better Be a Support

The news hits hard for support players in LoL. The last support champion to release was Milio back in 2022, nearly four years ago now. And while Milio is a good enchanter, it’s not exactly the most interactive and iconic support added to the game.

Support players are desperate for a new champion, with mid in recent years getting Hwei, Aurora, and Mel, while ADC got Yunara recently. We don’t even need to talk about junglers with all the top lane champions getting balanced for jungle, and then top lane recently getting Zaahen and Ambessa.

So, Support players should get the new champion to balance it out.

Often, when a new champion comes out, it has a major impact on pro play. Champs like Rell were deemed bad until they proved to be high elo and pro menaces. Zaahen was often overlooked, too, but makes for quite an interesting jungler now, thanks to the likes of Navi’s Rhilech popularizing it, making other junglers in LEC run it in recent playoffs matches.

Often enough, new champions in pro play mean that it can skew the meta a little. So, with limited reworks and releases, it may mean that we won’t see dramatic swings in pro play dominance in certain roles, leading to balance changes needing to be huge this year if we are to see significant shakeups of the meta, or those new split season balance changes with a large theme, like the ADC 2.0 patch from a few years ago.

The Other Rework?

Riot has been quiet on who the other rework is. Recent news has floated that Phreak may be looking to change Lee Sin, reverting his double cooldown duration when targeting a ward or minions with his W, meaning Lee Sin should start seeing more mobility, which is handy for setting up plays and actions in pro play.

Lee Sin was once the de facto jungler if we jump back to the likes of 2014-15, but in recent years, his mid-game fall-off and mobility have seen Lee Sin become a very rare pick indeed. Even solo queue doesn’t see Lee Sin as much in favor of other carries.

But this is not necessarily a rework. Who it could be remains a mystery. Riot used to poll champs with players voting for reworks, which is why we knew Shyvana was overdue for a rework. Could it be Singed? Thresh rework since his role has diminished in both solo and pro? Who knows.

Why Is This Happening?

As it stands, Riot Games is largely developing the game towards League Next, a major content patch originally reported as League 2. Most developers are trying to massively modernize the game engine, deliver major updates, and address other critical issues to make the game more appealing to future generations, while also fixing key areas of neglect that have crept in over the years.

We also know Riot is taking this more seriously, hiring former professional players like Meteos as analysts for the company as it undergoes key changes to the game. Seeing a higher-level commentator, analyst, and former pro jungler join the team is indeed valuable insight.

Just expect 2026 to be relatively tame while the dev work is ongoing.